The English Premier League begins its 22nd season this weekend with champions Manchester United trying to fend off big-spending Manchester City and a rejuvenated Chelsea while Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool will be out to break their dominance at the top.
The big three, with new managers in tow, are the favourites for the title and even in the opening weeks, all three know they cannot afford to drop too many points.
United begin the defence of their title away to Swansea on Saturday and then have matches with Chelsea, Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Manchester City.
“I think it’s the hardest start for 20 years that Manchester United have had,” said David Moyes, who replaced the retired Sir Alex Ferguson at the start of last month.
“I hope it’s not because Manchester United won the league quite comfortably last year.”
After weeks of speculation that Wayne Rooney could be on his way out of Old Trafford, the striker looks set to play at Swansea after beginning England’s match with Scotland at Wembley in midweek.
United won the traditional season curtain-raiser, the Community Shield, last weekend with a 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic and veteran midfielder Ryan Giggs, who will become a player-coach this season, believes the hunger is still there.
“Winning is what this club’s all about,” Giggs said. “You can’t win every year but we want to compete and give ourselves the best chance.
“That’s what we’ve done over the years. We’re the champions, we know how hard it is to defend, but we’ll do our best.”
Moyes rotated his squad in pre-season but Rio Ferdinand is set to partner Nemanja Vidic in defence while in midfield, Moyes will be hoping Michael Carrick shrugs off an eye infection that forced him out of the friendly with Scotland.
Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City side has to wait until Monday to begin their season with a home fixture against Newcastle.
Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli may have gone but the arrivals of Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo, Fernandinho and Stevan Jovetic, for a combined STG90 million ($A155.08 million), makes many feel City will regain their title.
“I think we have the best squad in England,” Pellegrini said recently.
“We bought four important players, we already had a very good team and with these four players I think we improved a lot.”
Chelsea welcome newly-promoted Hull to Stamford Bridge on Sunday, a match that will see Jose Mourinho begin his second spell in charge of the London club.
Mourinho won two league titles and the FA Cup (plus two League Cup titles) in his first spell as Chelsea manager and his first task will be to get the best out of Fernando Torres in attack, although he may put his faith in Romelu Lukaku, who is back after impressing on loan at West Bromwich Albion last season.
As Mourinho said when he took over: “Chelsea did very well to get these young boys with great potential, great ability and a great future, and I look forward to trying to improve them.”
Behind the big three, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool will vie for a place in the top four.
The protracted saga of where Luis Suarez starts the season remains ongoing but Arsenal, who had two bids rejected, are set to begin without him as he remains on Liverpool’s books.
Arsenal host Aston Villa while Liverpool, with Suarez still banned for six matches after biting Branislav Ivanovic last season, entertain Stoke.
Tottenham will be without Gareth Bale through injury for their visit to new boys Crystal Palace and the future of the midfielder has overshadowed some big-money signings at White Hart Lane, including record transfer Roberto Soldado.
The other promoted team, Cardiff, are away to West Ham United, while Norwich play Everton, Sunderland take on Fulham and Southampton travel to West Brom.
